Thorpeland Photography

He Shoots a Perfect Game!

Yesterday (Sunday), was the seasons first paintball game out in the woods for me and some of my buddies. At first it looked like we werent going to be able to play. It rained all night and was still drizzling outside when morning arrived. But after talking to all the guys, they were gung ho and ready to play. We all arrived at that game field and suited up in our cammo's and gear. This was the first time I was getting to try out my new paintball gun, a Tippman Custom 98. As I took my gun out of my gear back to show Ken, he noticed something I was unaware of. He immediatly says, "Oh, you have a response trigger!". Upon further inspection he was correct. Whoever sold this gun on Ebay didnt know this item had been upgraded or they would of tacked on $80 to the original price! What a response trigger does is pretty much turn the gun from a semi-automatic paintball gun to FULL automatic. :) I was ready to play now.

There were six of us so we divided up into teams of three and headed off to our starting bases. We were playing "elimination", meaning the goal was easy... shoot everyone who's not on your team. It didnt take long for the action to start. We were walking down a trail spread out about 15 feet apart, looking and listening for signs of the other team. All of a sudden, I hear the pop of a paintball gun and the hiss of a paintball narrowly missing me! I hit the groud for cover while Ken and Paul return fire into an area of thick brush near a creek. I dont think they could see who was shooting, but only knew the area it was coming from. I stand back up to see one of their team running back up a creek enbankment. I fire a couple shots but he disapears into the foliage. By this point, Ken and Paul had moved down into the creek to engage our enemy. He quickly turns to me and gives me the hand signal to flank back around the trail and come up from the other side. I hustle down the trail to where to bend sharply left and down into the creek. I stop and wait, watching. Suddenly, I hear a loud snap! Then I see movement. I point my gun and fire off a quick 6 rounds. "Im hit, Im hit!!" someone yells. My first "kill" of the day!! Its Chris, Ken's brother. I got him in the butt of all places and he comes out of the brush rubbing his left butt cheek complaining about it stinging. LOL Well, this is what happens when you're shot running away from the enemy. hehe

The rest of my day continues to go this well. I end up tagging out the other two players (Mark and Todd) in the first round... then killing all 3 players on my own again in the second game of the day we played! I finished our third game with only one kill, but went the full day without being shot. Although I had a few very near misses zing by me. My new gun performed perfectly and I played really well. I look forward to the next time we get to play, which will probably be right after Thanksgiving. I will be ready!

Later that day, after paintball, Emily and I met up with my family at the local Red Lobster for my brothers Birthday dinner. The little guy turned 30! I felt bad for Emily because she doesn't eat sea food, but yet when my family wants to do a "family dinner" they will only eat at Red Lobster. Luckily, they have a chicken and rice dinner that she doesnt mind getting. And lucky for me the rice and chicken does not taste like fish from their kitchen, or she wouldnt be a happy camper! :)

Tonight my buddy Dan fly's in from L.A. I pick him up from the airport around 9pm. Im looking forward to seeing him. I havent seen him in months. It should be fun!